It’s been said that the degree of civilization of any society can be judged by entering its prisons. Today, as the United Nations General Assembly wraps up in New York City, a humanitarian crisis worthy of international intervention is unfolding on the other side of the East River. If foreign delegations wish to see the degree of our civilization, they need only take the Q100 bus to Rikers Island.

New York City’s main jail complex is one of the largest correctional facilities in the United States and long among the most dangerous. Conditions there have always been terrible. But this year, the situation deteriorated into a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

Twelve people held in custody at Rikers have died in 2021 thus far. In May, a court-appointed federal monitor found a “pervasive level of disorder and chaos,” with use of force by guards up 200 percent from four years ago. Last month, the same monitor filed an emergency letter about conditions deteriorating even further. On September 10, the chief medical officer at Rikers Island wrote a letter to the city council to blow the whistle on a “collapse in basic jail operations” and a “new and worsening emergency” that “threatens the health and well-being of everyone who works and resides in city jails.”